Type in the words "price guns" or "bubble wrap" or "custom boxes" into Google and look at the results.  Ask yourself:

• What makes Mark It Plus so special?
  
• How do you choose from among the glut of fly-by-night businesses who claim to have "the best prices and best customer service"?
  
• Would it shock you to learn that some of these businesses are probably being run out of home basements or from third-world countries by offshore investors attracted by the ease of entry into the American marketplace?
  
• When you order an Avery Dennison label, are you really getting an Avery Dennison label, or some knock-off that may or may not show up when you need it most?

That's how easy it has become to make a buck in this country off the back of the small business customer, the businesses we need most. Unfortunately, long after your hard-earned buck is gone, the guy in his basement has formed another Internet business or the company has moved offshore. But there is hope...and here's our story.

Back when our company was literally just one person "pounding the pavement" in the early 1990's, we learned that the products we sell are in such high demand by American businesses that the only way our distributors could literally reach "everyone" is to maintain re-selling relationships with customer-friendly, frontline selling organizations like ours. In essence, we became the sales force in which the big manufacturers either could not or would not invest. And then all of a sudden, as our orders began to increase exponentially, it dawned on us: the manufacturers for which we were selling likely needed us almost as much as we needed them because the global economy just kept getting bigger and bigger, a situation perfectly tailored to our products.

Simultaneously and to our disbelief, we also discovered that "the big guys" we sell for don't really put any effort into penetrating a substantial portion of the marketplace. Naturally, we asked, "Why"? Well, it's not that they don't care. They do, or else they wouldn't have us as re-sellers. The fact is that our manufacturers do one thing well: they make things -- high quality things. BUT...they are not necessarily good at selling those things and establishing meaningful, one-one-one relationships with every market segment. Most are driven by manufacturing efficiency and earnings, leaving them little time to play nice with the woman-owned small business or the hard-working warehouse manager who needed his stuff yesterday. In fact, they are so big that their greatest efficiency is gained when they serve the largest corporations in America.

Their business models are built around the fact that 90% of their revenues come from only 5% of the market (which is comprised of the largest corporations in America). "Eureka!" we thought. A bunch of us got together and thought, "What if we do the opposite? What if we make 90% of our revenue from personal contact and ongoing, meaningful relationships with the other 95% of the market the big guys have neglected and ignored -- the small and medium sized corporations?" At first we were hesitant: how could we devote enough time and resources to winning those very, very hard to win accounts, the types of accounts the big guys abandoned long ago for efficiency's sake?

Still, we made it our mission to target the minority small business owner; the upstart franchise owner who just spent his life savings on the American dream; the local shipping firm that doesn't exactly like visits from salespeople; and many more. This took guts, and we poured our heart and soul into the small and medium sized market segment. Fortunately for us, we were rewarded with an overwhelming response. Most were happy to have received a personal phone call from someone who cares, which implied to them that they just might be able to have access to a real human being when problems arise, another fact that we found pervasive among our target market. And yes, even the hardworking shipping manager was glad to see us when we showed up.

The rest is history, but like all good American success stories, it gets better. In one of those ironies of business success, word spread and we began to take on bigger and bigger clients in addition to our middle market and small business segments. Today, our smallest customers are thousands of hard-working "Mom & Pop" retailers and franchise operations, yet, our largest customers are national retail chains, service industries and transportation customers with a dozen to several hundred nationwide locations...each! Not only have we managed to obtain a substantial market share equal to that of big name manufacturers, but we managed to retain those original values that carved our niche in the first place.

But we never forget where we came from, because we retain all of those small and medium sized businesses as well. Despite this good fortune, we are still able to maintain our original, iron-clad partnerships with suppliers. Now, ALL customers of any size or industry may benefit both by our distribution scale and pricing arrangements with suppliers. And the best news yet: You can still call us and our friendly customer service rep, Kathy, will always answer the phone!